ML20195G732
| ML20195G732 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 07003054 |
| Issue date: | 11/04/1988 |
| From: | Bidinger G, Horn M, Laroche G NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| To: | NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20195G715 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8811300018 | |
| Download: ML20195G732 (3) | |
Text
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- i NOV 4 1988 1
DOCKET NO: 70-3054 LICENSEE: Philadelphia Eler.tric Company FACILITY: Limerick Generating Station, Unit 2 Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
SUBJECT:
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT - LICENSE AMENOMENT APPLICATION TO RECEIVE NEW FUEL
Background
By letter dated May 6, 1988 and supplement dated October 28, 1988, Philadelphia
- Electric (PE) applied for an amendment to their NRC license to permit the
- receipt, possession, and storage of special nuclear material in the form of unirradiated nuclear fuel assemblies. All materials are for eventual use in Limerick, Unit 2. In accordance with 10 CFR Part 51.21, the NRC has prepared this assassment of the environmental impsets that may be caused by issuance of the requested license.
The Proposed Action
! The proposed action is revision of a special nuclear material license pursuant to 10 CFR Part 70 that will authorize PE to receive, possess, inspect, and store 764 new fuel assemblies at Limerick, Unit 2. The license would be effective until it is superseded by PE's operating license under 10 CFR Part 50. The fuel i assemblies contain uranium dioxioe (00 7) pellets that have a maximum uranium-235 enrichment of 3.80 percent by weight and are encapsulated in zircaloy tubing.
Revision of this license would result in the receipt, possession, inspection, and storage of the unirradiated fuel assembifes at Lime-ick, Unit 2. The transport of new fuel to Limerick will be the responsibility of the fuel fabricator.
j Need for the Proposed Action J
PE proposes to receive and store fresh fuel prior to issuance of the Part 50 operating license in order to inspect the assemblies and to finalize fuel preparation (e.g. , add necessary hardware) needed to load the fuel into the reactor core vessel. Actual core loading, however, will not be autho','ized by the proposed license amendment. Early completion of this fuel handling will help avoid delays in the Limerick, Unit 2, startup once its operating license is issued.
Alternatives to the proposed Action Alternatives to the proposed action include complete denial of PE's application.
Assuming the operating license for the facility will eventually be issued, SS11300018 651122 POR ADOCK 07003054 C FDC
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NOV 4 1988 Philadelphia Electric Company 2
$ denial of the storage only license now would merely postpone new fuel receipt !
at Limerick, Unit 2. Such action, as well as any other alternative that could ,
be imagined, would not present an environmental advantage because, as discussed !
below, no environmental impacts are expected from the proposed action.
- Environmental Impacts of the proposed Action 4
A Final Environmental Statement (NUREG-0974) associated with the full-scale ,
operation of Limerick has already been issued by the NRC. Based on the ;
evaluation in this statement, the environmental impacts of plant operation are i
expected to be small. New fuel receipt and storage is only a small part of 1 t
Limerick, Unit 2's overall operation that will eventually include the handling and storage of irradiated fuel which is significantly more hazardous. Accord-
)I ingly, the environmental impacts resulting from the handling and storage of new l fuel are expected to be very minor. !
Once at Limerick, Unit 2, the new fuel will be stored outdoors in the new fuel
) storage area. The fuel will be stored in the outer wooden shipping containers, 1 in piles stacked four high. Each pile of fuel will be covered by a five-sided
! box manufactured out of corrugated steel. This temporary storage will present
] no significant environmental impact or significant radiation exposure to plant l workers. j l
l Assemblies are then moved to the refueling floor and stored in a predesignated I i
storage area. Assemblies are removed from their shipping containers, inspected, !
and surveyed for external contamination. The fuel is then transferred to their !
designated storage location in the spent fuel storage pool. Criticality safety :
in the storage location is maintained by limiting interaction between adjacent !
fuel assemblies. The staff has evaluated the spent fuel pool and found it to be i critically safe for all conditions of water moderation and/or reflection. The !
, design of this storage location, combined with plant procedures, will ensure j i acceptable protection of the general public and plant personnel under either t j normal or abnormal conditions. [
l Since the fresh fuel assemblies are sealed sources, the principal exposure l i pathway to an individual is via external radiation. For a low-enriched uranium l fuel bundle (<4 percent U-235 enrichment), the exposure rate at 1 foot from the !
3 surface is normally less than ImR/hr; therefore, it is estimated that the [
exposure level to workers handling the fuel would be less than 25 percent of the '
j maximum permissible exposure specified in 10 CFR Part 20. Because of the low -
2 radiation exposure levels associated with the requested materials and activities
! and PE N radiation protection procedures, the staff concluded that fuel handling .
4 and storage activities can be carried out without any significant occupational !
] dose to workers or radiological impact to the environment, [
l Only a small amount, if any, of radioactive waste (e.g., smear papers and/or )
contaminated packing material) is expected to be generated during fuel handling ;
and storage operations. Any waste that is produced will be properly stored [
2 i onsite until it can be shipped to a licensed disposal facility,
! I l !
1 i !
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NOV 4 1988 Philadelphia Electric Company 3 In the event the assemblies must be returned to the fuel fabricator, all packaging and transport of fuel will be in accordance with 10 CFR Part 71. The package will meet NRC approval requirements fcr normal conditions of transport and hypothetical accident conditions. No significant external radiation hazards are associated with the unirradiated assemblies because the radiation level from the clad fuel pellets is low and because the shipping packages must meet the external radiation standards in 10 CFR Part 71. Therefore, any shipment of unirradiated fuel is expected to have an insignificant environmental impact.
PE has installed redundant engineered-safety features on equipment intended for use in fuel handling and storage operations. These safety features, combined with administrative controls, minimize the likelihood of an accident situation occurring during fuel handling activities. In addition, PE has analyzed the possible consequences that may result from various postulated accidents, the worst being an assembly (either within or outside its shipping container) dropped during transfer. The fuel cladding is not expected to rupture. Even if the cladding were breached and the pellets were released, an insignificant environmental impact would result. The fuel pellets are composed of a ceramic U0 that has been pelletized and sintered to a very high density. Inthisform,feleaseofU0 aerosol p is highly unlikely except under conditions of deliberate grinding. Auditionally, 00 is soluble only in acid solution so dissolution and release to the environmen,t are extremely unlikely.
Conclusion Based upon the information presented above, the environmental impacts associated with new fuel storage at Limerick, Unit 2, are expected to be insignificant. Essentially no effluents, liquid or airborne, will be released, and acceptable controls will be implemented to prevent a radiological accident. Therefore, the staff concludes that there will be no significant impacts associated with the proposed action.
04Ml SignSj By Or@nal SI$D0d BT Germain LaRoche Merri Horn Advanced Fuel and Special Uranium fuel Section Facilities Section Fuel Cycle Safety Branch Fuel Cycle Safety Branch Division of Industrial and Division of Industrial and Medical Nuclear Safety, NM55 Medical huclear Safety, NM55 Approved by: -.- GmJ U George H. Bidinger, Section Leader
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NAME: GlaRoche: mh: MHorn: VL pe: GH8idinger:
DATE: 11/ 3 /88 11/ >/88 11/3 /88 11/8/ /88 0FFICIAL RECORD COPY